life is a delicious adventure

Cheesy Green Chile Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Casserole

Ok so that recipe title is kind of a mouthful, right? I have subsequently added “recipe naming” to my list of things to work on. You’re welcome in advance. Another thing I’d like to work on, couponing. Extreme couponing = fascinating and bewildering. How people are able to buy 67 tubes of toothpaste, 35 packages of ramen and 10 jars of peanut butter and pay negative seventeen cents is beyond me. I can’t even remember to use my $5 off a purchase of $50 at Publix. I have literally had the same coupon floating around in my purse for 6 months and I only think about using it after I am in my car headed home from the grocery store. Saving money is apparently not really my thing.

I hope everyone had a happy Veterans Day! I am very thankful to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve our great country. I was also very thankful to have a day off from work because I spent it…..drumroll please……sick in bed. Womp. Not even a little bit as exciting or productive as my previous Tuesday off. Instead of checking a million things off of my to-do list, I spent most of the day in bed with Renly. Tough life right?

Despite the stuffy nose and headache part, it was actually nice to spend the day resting. I am always so quick to fill up “free time” that I usually forget the whole point of having a day off, to re-charge. Don’t get me wrong, it’s glorious to get things done (especially mid-week) but sometimes we really just need to put the brakes on. I’ve always thought getting a cold was your body’s way of telling you to slow down. Well that or my body’s way of telling me to stop letting the preschoolers I work with sneeze all over me.

So what I had hoped would be another busy Tuesday turned into a day of rest and puppy cuddles, and it was just what I needed. Thank you for slowing me down Veterans and sneezing preschoolers

Another plus to a day at home (even a sick one) is that I had time to prepare a more prep intensive meal than usual. Although I say prep intensive, it was really pretty easy and only involved one extra appliance so don’t click away just yet! I found this yummy looking recipe on one of my favorite food blogs a few weeks ago. Yum right? I’m sure the recipe is absolutely delicious as is (all of hers are!) but I am weird and sometimes like to see how many non-vegetables I can replace with vegetables. Just normal things you would replace with vegetables like pasta, rice, alfredo sauce. What? Doesn’t everyone make alfredo sauce with cauliflower instead of cheese and cream? No? Ok, well just go with it. It may sound crazy, but it tastes delicious. And trust me, if my cheeseburger loving husband actually eats and likes these hidden veggie dishes then there’s a good chance you will too.

So I made a few adjustments to Kristen’s lovely recipe, mainly ditching the rice for cauliflower rice. If you have never made cauliflower rice I urge you to try it because it is seriously SO EASY. All you do is roughly chop your cauliflower and pulse it in the food processor.

That’s it. So simple. Other than that it’s just sautéing chicken,

whipping up an easy peasy cheese sauce

and tossing it all in the oven. Hope you enjoy it as much as Robert the former vegetable hater did

Cheesy Green Chili Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

1 16 oz. jar of Salsa Verde (I used Frontera)

1 head of Cauliflower, chopped

2-3 Green Onions, chopped

1 tsp. Olive Oil

2 Chicken Breasts, cut into chunks

4 oz. can of Chopped Green Chiles

2 cloves of garlic, minced

For Cheese Sauce:

1 and 1/2 C. Milk (I used skim)

4 tsp. All Purpose Flour

8 oz. Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

1/3 C. Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt ( I used Fage)

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium sized pot, heat salsa verde over med/high heat, meanwhile chop cauliflower head into uniformly sized pieces (size doesn’t matter so much as that they are all the same so they pulse evenly) and pulse half in food processor until riced. Repeat with remaining half of cauliflower. Once all cauliflower is riced, add to salsa verde and stir until well combined. Cook until mixture begins to bubble, about five minutes.

2. Add chopped green onions to cauliflower/salsa mixture. Place lid on top and remove from heat.

3. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over med/high heat. Add diced chicken and green chiles and sauté until cooked through, add garlic and cook for one more minute.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk flour into 1/2 cup of milk. Add flour/milk mixture to skillet and then add the remaining cup of milk. Let mixture come to a bubble, stirring constantly. Remove skillet from heat and add in 6 oz. of monterey jack and greek yogurt. Stir well and add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Add cheese sauce to chicken/cauliflower mixture and stir until combined. Transfer to greased baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes until golden brown and heated through.